Online Learning: National Survey Results

Below is a link to the Sloan Consortium’s newly released annual survey; the study, now in its eleventh year, provides interesting statistics while being “aimed at answering fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education”:

“Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States, 2013”

2014 Predictions: Articles

Enjoy these articles in which experts analyze the new year’s possibilities in online learning and higher ed (MOOCs loom large in these pieces!):

“Innovation in 2014: Welcome to the Evolution” by Jeffrey Selingo (1/13/14)
From The Chronicle:
http://chronicle.com/article/Innovation-in-2014-Welcome-to/143971/

“Anant Agarwal Predicts the Campus of the Future [CES 2014]” by Roger Riddell (1/10/14)
From Education Dive:
http://www.educationdive.com/news/anant-agarwal-predicts-the-campus-of-the-future-ces-2014/213639/

“What’s Next for Education? Answer: Follow-the-Learner” by Debbie Morrison (1/5/14)
From Online Learning Insights blog:
http://onlinelearninginsights.com/2014/01/05/whats-next-for-education-answer-follow-the-learner/

“6 Ways Government Could Impact Education in 2014” by Daniel Shumski (12/11/13)
From Education Dive:
http://www.educationdive.com/news/6-ways-government-could-impact-education-in-2014/203839/

“Colleges Can Still Save Themselves. Here’s How” by Jeffrey Selingo (12/2/13)
From The Chronicle:
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Can-Still-Save/143305/

“What’s in Store for MOOCs in 2014?” by Daniel Shumski (11/27/13)
From Education Dive:
http://www.educationdive.com/news/whats-in-store-for-moocs-in-2014/198600/

Happy New Year from CCCOnline

Best wishes for happiness and good health in 2014! 

As we ring in the new, we’ve included a few articles that look back at this past year: 

“Our Top 13 Teaching and Learning Articles of 2013” by Mary Bart (12/20/13)
From Faculty Focus:
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/our-top-13-teaching-and-learning-articles-of-2013/

“What Books Did You Read in 2013?” by Joshua Kim (12/19/13)
From Inside Higher Ed’s “Technology and Learning” blog:
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/what-books-did-you-read-2013

“The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course” by Eric Westervelt (12/31/13)
From NPR (looks back at 2013 in online education):
http://www.npr.org/2013/12/31/258420151/the-online-education-revolution-drifts-off-course

Competency-Based Learning Articles

Competency-based learning was a popular topic at the WCET conference this year; below for your reading pleasure are a few recent articles explaining and discussing this approach.

“Disrupting the Space-Time Continuum: Competency-based Learning Explained” by Gillian Seely (11/6/13)
From Pearson’s Teaching & Learning Blog:
http://www.pearsonlearningsolutions.com/blog/channels/online-blended-learning/disrupting-the-space-time-continuum-competency-based-learning-explained/

“Profiles of Students in Competency-Based Programs” (11/8/13)
From Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/11/08/profiles-students-competency-based-programs

“New courses stress competency to meet workforce needs” by Ellie Ashford (11/18/13)
From Community College Daily:
http://www.ccdaily.com/Pages/Workforce-Development/New-courses-stress-competency-to-meet-workforce-needs.aspx

“Adding Competency to Community” by Paul Fain (11/19/13)
From Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/19/group-two-year-colleges-work-western-governors-university-try-competency-based

Enjoy the holidays and see you back here next year!

WCET Annual Meeting: What We Learned

Recently, the annual WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) Annual Meeting was held in Denver, and some of the CCCOnline staff attended. Below are a few thoughts about what we learned. 

At the conference, it was emphasized in more than one presentation that national surveys of online students strongly indicate that students desire extensive engagement with their online instructors (good feedback in grading comments, active discussion participation, etc). This supports the emphasis of CCCOnline administrators on instructional quality.

-John Ragan

The stand out topics for me were moving whole programs to competency-based learning format and accreditation standards for working with vendors.  

-Monica Falk

I was struck by the idea that many hiring managers consider recent college graduates unprepared for the workforce, as was explained by Vernon Smith (Portmont College at Mount St. Mary’s). It was particularly interesting to me that the graduates themselves perceive they have a better mastery over certain soft skills than their managers think they do; this survey from Chegg shows the skills with the greatest gaps between the graduates’ and the managers’ perceptions. In a similar vein (i.e. thinking about lifelong learning and preparing students for what comes next), I enjoyed the closing keynote, “Social Learning Revolution,” by Jane Hart; her website, the Top 100 Tools for Learning, is worth exploring.

-Liz Dzabic

Also . . . this holiday week, we all would like to thank you for your ongoing commitment to our students, and we wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving!